West Brom V West Ham at The Hawthorns : Match Preview

01 December 2014 18:01
West Brom V West Ham - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Swansea close to full strength

Swansea have no new injury concerns for the Barclays Premier League visit of Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday night.

Federico Fernandez (calf) is again missing but apart from the Argentina central defender, Swansea manager Garry Monk has a full squad to choose from after Saturday's 1-1 home draw with Crystal Palace.

Ecuadorian Jefferson Montero suffered a kick on the leg against Palace but has been declared fit and fellow winger Nathan Dyer should return to the matchday squad after failing to make the bench on Saturday.

Swansea slipped to eighth place after being held by Palace and they once again dropped precious points after taking the lead.

Monk's men have now lost 13 points from leading positions - the highest total in the Premier League this season - and but for that worrying trend Swansea would find themselves in an even healthier situation than they are right now.

But Monk insists he is more concerned with Swansea's points total, which is the club's best after 13 Premier League games, than the issue of losing leads.

"I don't understand why it's a persistent question at the moment," Monk said.

"I'm more concerned with the 19 points we have, more than we've had at this level before, pushing forward and improving on things.

"We look at games and things we can correct but we are doing very well and on another day we could have won that Palace game.

"The reaction after the Palace game was as though we lost the game by three or four goals.

"Look at the Man City game which we lost and the reaction is much better than a draw against Palace, which bemuses me."

Rangers' visit means Monk will cross managerial swords with veteran boss Harry Redknapp for the first time - a meeting between the youngest and oldest managers in the Premier League.

"If I could have half the career he's had you would be doing something right," Monk said.

"He's a good guy who knows his football and plays good football.

"You have to look at that and it's something to aspire to.

"Hopefully it's something I can get to as well but we've got to be wary of their quality and experience. It's a tough game for us."

QPR visit looking to climb out of the bottom three for the first time since September.

"We'll have to go there and work very hard to stay with them," Redknapp said.

"They play some great football, we know it'll be a tough game but we need an away win so we've got to be positive and believe we can go and get it."


Source: PA